PURE

Pendragon brings fond memories on my mind: they were an important part of the emerging Neo Prog in the mid- Eighties, I bought their maxi-single Flying High, Fall Far in 1984, one year later their first LP entitled The Jewel and witnessed the band as support-act for Marillion. Meanwhile Pendragon has released 10 studio-albums, 9 live- albums and 6 DVD's. Their latest studio-album is Men Who Climb Mountains (2014), this review is about their acclaimed 8th effort entitled Pure, from 2008.

During the first composition Indigo (more than 13 minutes) I got excited about the slow rhythms with bombastic atmospheres (the Pendragon trademark) and the excellent guitar work. First rock and roll riffs, then fiery and howling runs, twanging acoustic guitar and in the end a strongly build-up, very compelling guitarsolo. This is accompanied by lush keyboards,Pendragon in its full splendor! In the next five songs I notice that Pendragon delivers both typical Pendragon songs as very surprising tracks, some examples.

Comatose - I View From The Seashore : featuring prog metal guitar riffs and flute-Mellotron.

The Freak Show : first and final part sounds like Immigrant song by Led Zeppelin.

And the final song It's Only Me with mouth-organ, cello and again Mellotron in the wonderful grand finale delivering a nother compelling guitar solo, goose bumps!

On this album I notice very powerful drumming by new member Scott Hingham, special attention for the recording with lots of sound effects and a blend of typical Pendragon and a more experimental Pendragon. A big hand for Pendragon, 14 years after their first vinyl effort they have released a strong and adventurous CD.

P.s.: on their website I read that Pendragon is still alive and neo-progging: November 2018 they will do a small European tour (40th anniversary) and in 2019 they are booked for the incredible progrock event Cruise To The Edge.

My rating: 3,5 star.